Falling leaves

Spent the morning in Newport, first on a visit with Nuala Pell to the cemetery where Claiborne Pell and two of his and Nuala's children are buried, and then I stopped by the cemetery where Eileen and her husband John lie in rest. Here is a shot of the Slocum plot, the mid-November leaves scattered among the yews. Eileen and John's stone is second from the right.
We are nearing the end of principal photography, with a major shoot this coming Monday at 459 Bellevue with Eileen's son, Jerry.

Falling Leaves.

Michael Budd, PhD, Salve Regina

To place Newport Society in the larger historical context, we asked Dr. Michael A. Budd, historian and professor at Newport's Salve Regina University to be our academic adviser -- and he kindly agreed. He also agreed to go on camera, and we filmed him today in one of the libraries at Eileen Slocum's estate. Beryl Powell, one of Eileen's daughters, was our host again.

Illustrative

Laurence Cutler, founder and owner with his wife, Judy, of the esteemed National Museum of American Illustration, invited us into the museum yesterday and then, sitting in his library, went on camera for a great half-hour of observation about Eileen Slocum and Newport society. Laurence was superb. And the museum is just outstanding, with its collection of paintings by Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth and all of the other great American illustrators.

On camera

We were shooting again yesterday at 459 Bellevue, putting Eileen's two daughters, Beryl Powell and Margy Quinn, on camera.
To watch a clip from Margy's interview, in which she talks about her mother's diaries, which are a central element in HEDGEROW, click through to the Facebook HEDGEROW page. Margy and Beryl have been enormously helpful to us in production, both on camera and behind the scenes. This Was Margy's second shoot and Beryl's first -- and more to come.

WPRO AM-630 appearance

During an hour-and-a-half appearance on John DePetro's popular morning drive-time news/talk show on WPRO AM-630, Producer/writer G. Wayne Miller talked about his upcoming biography of Senator Claiborne Pell, A VERY DIFFERENT SENATOR, but also discussed HEDGEROW with DePetro and producer Tara Granahan, both of whom are looking forward to the final film.

Photo courtesy of WPRO AM-630.

Freddy Cushing

We spent the afternoon with Freddy Cushing at his Newport home, interviewing him for the movie and watching film footage of Newport as far back as 1919. One clip, from 1940, has the young Eileen Slocum at Bailey's beach. What a find! And Freddy was great on camera, and a gracious host. He later showed us the main Cushing house, on one of the most beautiful spots in all of Newport (or the East Coast, for that matter). No wonder the makers of Evening, the 2007 movie starring Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep and Claire Danes decided to shoot much of their movie there.
Pictured here:
-- The Cushing house.
-- Freddy Cushing looking out at the wind-swept Atlantic from the porch.
-- Associate producer Calvin Miller on the rocks.
-- Director Dave Bettencourt on the lawn.
-- The setting sun.
-- Freddy and me during the shoot in Freddy's studio. He's a noted filmmaker himself and loves the art as much as we do.

---- Wayne